Obituaries

Fred Campanella

08/01/1929 - 04/21/2018

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Obituary for Fred Campanella

Longtime Estacada resident Fred Campanella passed away peacefully, surrounded by his loving family on April 21, 2018. He was 88.

A funeral service will be held 11:00 AM, Saturday, May 5, 2018 at Estacada First Baptist Church. A private family graveside will follow at Philip E. Linn Cemetery in Estacada.

Freds life started in Chicago, Illinois on August 1, 1929 to John and Theresia Campanella. He had three brothers and a sister. After their mother died, the siblings stayed with various aunts and uncles in Chicago. Work became scarce during the great depression. In 1941 the Portland shipyards were hiring so John Campanella brought his family to Oregon. John, with his son Fred, started the market in a one-car-garage with a dirt floor. Wooden orange boxes stacked around the walls acted as shelves. The cash register was a fishing tackle box. From 1945 on, everyone who lived in Estacada drove by the store coming and going to Estacada. Business in the garage/store continued to thrive, warranting a better building, so the Campanella’s built a new store in front of the original one that was housed in the garage. As the years went by the store continued to be finished. At the same time, Fred was attending Estacada School District when he met Leona Lynch. Fred proposed in 1947 when he was 17 and she was 16. After they married, they moved the Seaside. Fred started working at Safeway and they moved to Astoria where he started working for Piggly Wiggly. He learned valuable lessons about the grocery business which he put into good use by returning to Estacada to join his father at the family grocery store. In 1955 Fred responded to customers who wanted easier access to the business so he opened a second store in downtown Estacada on Broadway. That was a success over the next four years. However, there were many necessary repairs that needed to be done on the building so Fred decided to close that location in 1959. Fred worked hard and took over the store in 1960. It was truly a family owned and operated store. Fred and Leona had nine children but sadly they lost one child at birth. Some of the kids worked in the store while others helped Leona at home. In 1967 Fred and Leona bought a 70-acre farm on Eagle Creek Road. Just outside the city limits. There they raised cattle and pigs. Again, many hard-working days with help from their children. Fred Still had the store so it was a back and forth endeavor. Fred closed the store in 1971 even though the store building is gone, the large red Campanella’s market sign continued to stay as a landmark where it stood at the crossroad of Eagle Creek road and River Mill Road. Over the years weathered and faded until the words were scarcely visible, the sign remained standing for 73 years until just recently. In the mid 1980’s Freds grandchildren began helping on the farm. When he was done with them, they knew how to put in a hard days work. Then in 2006, Fred and Leona stopped farming and sold the land and equipment. At age 77 Fred was tired so it was time to retire. Fred and Leona did some traveling but not much. They were hard working folks. Fred was a member of the Oregon City Elks Lodge #1180 for 55 years. Fred was preceded in death by his parents, three siblings, and a son Christopher.